Now, or ever
by sherban1988
Summary: Miranda joins the Normandy crew right after the assault on the Cerberus base.


As Shepard, Garrus and Liara were walking back to the hangar bay of the old Cerberus Base, a communication from Joker interrupted them.

"Commander, do you copy?"

"I hear you Joker. What's going on?"

"EDI detected a Cerberus shuttle entering the system. We've established communications, and I think you'd be interested to talk to them."

"Alright. Patch me through" answered Shepard, thinking it was probably some more Cerberus scientists, since their indoctrinated troops most likely wouldn't want to talk to him.

He heard a small crackle in his radio, indicating that the channel was switched, but nobody actually spoke.

"This is Commander Shepard. This facility has been taken over by Alliance troops, so if you were considering an attack, I discourage it. Who is this?"

"Already? I was hoping you'd leave something for me John." When he heard the answer, more specifically the voice it was given in, Shepard unconsciously started walking faster towards the hangar.

"Miri? What are you doing here?" asked John with surprise at hearing his girlfriend.

"Well, I _was _coming to help you take down Cerberus, but it seems I'm a little late to the party" came Miranda's reply. "You sure didn't waste time. I took Ori to some place safe after I left Horizon, got patched up and came straight here."

By now, Shepard was jogging. Behind him, Garrus and Liara looked at eachother, amused at their friend's eagerness.

"I _told _you he was whipped." joked Garrus, the turian version of a smirk on his face. They then started to slowly jog after their friend, knowing they would find him impatiently waiting by the shuttle.

"I'm glad you're here, Miranda. I wanted to contact you when I got back to the Normandy anyway, to come pick you up from wherever you were."

"Oh? Did you miss me, Shepard?" she asked coyly. John could already picture the slightly arrogant smirk on her face when he heard her.

Smiling to himself, he easily fell into their usual banter "You could say that, Miss Lawson. Now how about you get your perfect body to the Normandy, so you can show me how much _you_ missed _me_."

"Is that an order, commander?" whispered the former Cerberus operative.

"I don't think it has to be." retorted Shepard with confidence.

"You're right… it _never_ has to be."

"Head for the Normandy. I'll tell Joker to open the hangar for you. We're done here anyway, we were just heading to our shuttle." said Shepard, smiling at her words. God, he loved that woman.

"I'll see you there."

Quickly switching the channel on his omni-tool, the soldier hailed the Normandy's pilot. "Joker, since you already know who's on that shuttle, let her in."

"Already done commander. We're on an intercept course. She'll be on board in a few minutes, and we'll double back to get you."

Turning the final corner, Shepard saw their own N-47 waiting in the hangar. After jumping in, he turned to see Garrus and Liara making their way to the shuttle as well.

"Come on Garrus, double time it. You getting soft on me?" laughed the commander at the expense of his best friend.

"Take it easy Shepard. I'm sure James will be more than happy to entertain Miranda till we get back." teased the turian.

Laughing at her friends' antics, Liara got into the shuttle and went to sit down next to the window. Garrus however, made a show of slowly walking the final 30 feet or so to the shuttle, all the while smirking at Shepard.

When he finally got to the shuttle, he put his hand on Shepard's shoulder and said "I'm glad she's here, John. You deserve to spend some time with her."

Shepard nodded a thank you at his best friend. Four years ago, he'd never have thought that title would go to a turian. Not because he hated aliens or anything, it just seemed highly unlikely, given what he knew – which he'd be the first to admit, wasn't a lot – about turian culture. Yet here they were. Best friends, comrades in arms, fighting to save the galaxy and having some laughs at each other's expense along the way.

"We're taking off commander, everybody hold on." Yelled out Cortez, as the shuttle started to rumble, announcing its departure from the space station.

**/bl/**

Before the shuttle even fully landed, Shepard opened the door and jumped on the hangar floor, looking around. When he didn't see Miranda anywhere in the hangar, he started for the elevator, only to have the door open when he was a few feet away to reveal the very woman he was looking for.

As she looked up and met his eyes, she smiled that beautiful smile she used only for him, and slowly started to walk towards him.

"Hey." She said once they were no more than a foot apart.

"Hey yourself."

As the shuttle finally landed, Garrus stepped out just in time to see the two embrace. Smiling to himself, he suddenly made a decision that has been bothering him ever since Rannoch.

"EDI?" he called to the AI.

"Yes Garrus?"

"Where's Tali?"

"She is currently in engineering. Would you like me to patch you to her comm?"

"No, that's alright. I need to say this in person."

"Very well." As Garrus passed Shepard and Miranda, he caught the eye of the former Cerberus operative and gave her a friendly nod, which she returned. When the elevator doors closed, he heard EDI again.

"Garrus, I believe I know what you are doing. I want to wish you 'Good Luck'."

"Thanks EDI."

**/bl/**

As the elevator door closed with Garrus inside, Miranda slowly let go of the embrace, instead lowering her arms on John's chest, his hands coming to rest comfortably on her hips.

"I missed you" whispered John, still in a bit of a daze from seeing her, touching her.

"I figured as much" answered Miranda with a smile. As Shepard opened his mouth to retort, she placed her finger gently on his lips and continued "I missed you to John. More than I thought I could." She sighed, and went on "I spent so much of my time with Cerberus trying to deny, to ignore any feelings of attachment I might be having. I thought they would make me lose focus… lose sight of what's important, of the mission…"

"Don't try to paint yourself as emotionless, Miranda." Interrupted Shepard "Even when you were with Cerberus, you still cared enough for your sister to make sure she'll always be safe and taken care of."

"Oh… well, yes. But she was my sister… I couldn't just…" said Miranda, looking away.

"That's right. You couldn't. You'd be surprised how little family means to some people." John raised his armored hand and gently touched her cheek, drawing her eyes back to his. "So stop putting yourself down. You acted the way you had to. If you would've gotten attached or emotional, The Illusive Man would've probably taken you out of the equation years ago." Stated Shepard with conviction. "And besides" he continued with an increasing grin "If that would've happened, you never would've been tasked to rebuild me, and I probably wouldn't be here." As Miranda was thinking over his words, he added "And more importantly, you never would've become _the_ Commander Shepard's girlfriend."

At this, she finally laughed, lightly hitting his armor covered chest. "You're an ass."

John slowly let her go and started walking to the elevator "Yeah. Too bad you find that attractive." He chuckled right before dodging another swat, this time aimed at the back of his head.

"Keep that up, and I'll reconsider sticking around the Normandy commander" threatened Miranda. The seriousness of the threat was however lessened by the smile she was unable to conceal.

As John reached the elevator, he pressed the call button, and turned to lean on the wall next to the door, waiting for it to open. "Oh? I don't remember asking you to stay, Miss Lawson." He teased. "In fact, the ship is pretty full at the moment." He continued, raising his hand to his chin, pretending to be in deep thought.

Miranda, leaning on the other side of the doors, shot a flirty smile at him "I wouldn't worry about that. I have it on good authority that the commanding officer's cabin on deck one has a bed large enough for two, and its own private bathroom."

"Really? And what makes you think the commanding officer will let you share use of his cabin?" laughed Shepard, moving away from the wall and crossing his arms, a smirk present on his face.

"Well…" started Miranda, distancing herself from the wall, and walking slowly towards her boyfriend, putting a little more movement into her hips than was really necessary "I happen to know for a fact that the commander appreciates all of my… capabilities." She finished, leaning closer to his lips.

"That he does, Miss Lawson" answered John, right before closing the distance between them, and pressing his lips to hers in a searing kiss. After they separated, he leaned his forehead against hers, his hand still on her cheek and his eyes closed. "That he does." He whispered.

Just then, the doors to the elevator opened to reveal one James Vega who, after taking the scene in front of him, started smirking at Shepard.

"Hey commander. I… take it the mission went well?" he asked, smirk still present on his face.

Coughing a bit, and slightly embarrassed, John let go of Miranda, but kept hold of her hand, giving it a small squeeze, which she returned. "James. Yeah… yeah it did. We didn't get The Illusive Man, but Cerberus won't be a problem anymore." Trying to distract James long enough to get to the elevator and escape his comical comments, John asked "Where were you just now?"

"I was in engineering. Sparks was telling me about your mission through the Omega 4 relay, in the Collector base. Man… sorry I missed that" answered James with respect in his voice. "But Scars came in, and he wanted to talk to her. Seemed kinda urgent, so I let them."

"But anyway… aren't you going to introduce me to your _friend_ commander?" asked James, smirk still present and accenting the word 'friend'.

Sighing, and knowing that between James and Garrus, he wasn't going to hear the end of this pretty soon, Shepard decided he might as well. "James, this is Miranda Lawson. Miranda, James…"

"James Vega." Replied Miranda, shaking James' extended hand. "Born on Earth, joined the Alliance Navy at 18. Proved yourself to be a skilled combatant and efficient leader when the situation demands it, but your less than desirable attitude is the reason you're still stuck at Lieutenant. You have heavy training in assault rifles and shotguns, no biotic skills. Preference to using armor fortification in combat for the extra endurance it offers. Capable in hand to hand combat, but you prefer powerful strikes to speed."

"Uh… yeah…"

"I pulled your file 14 months ago, when I found out you're the one guarding Shepard during his stay on Earth. I wanted to be prepared in case I had to take you out if I snuck in to see him." Explained Miranda, feeling it was her turn to smirk and doing just that.

James let out and impressed whistle. "Damn. You hold on to her commander. She's something else."

"I intent to James" answered Shepard, laughing at Miranda besting James. As he gently pulled her into the open elevator, he pressed the button for deck one, and locking eyes with Miranda, he stated "I'm not letting her go. Now" he accented by squeezing her hand again, gaining one of her beautiful smiles "or ever" he finished, as the doors closed.

* * *

**AN: **Yet again, I found an idea bugging me to no end, so I decided to use my new found powers - getting rid of such ideas by writing them - for good instead of evil.**  
**

This is unbeta-ed, so any and all mistakes are mine, and I do apologize for them. Still getting the hang of this writing in another language deal. Hope they didn't take you out of the story _too_ much.

I'm honestly not sure if I will continue this or not. Don't get me wrong, I want to. I actually have a few more ideas I'd like to implement into the story, but free time is a luxury can't really afford at the moment, so I can't promise anything. I'll try to squeeze in some more writing when I can.


End file.
